The use of water to suppress or extinguish fires is a concept as old as fire itself. And, quite probably as long as it has inhabited dwellings, mankind has long sought for the best way to effect the distribution of water within dwellings where the risk of death and destruction from fire is ever present. For many years, fire suppression systems which are installed in buildings have been comprised of a number of water supply lines installed above a ceiling or a suspended ceiling grid, the same grid which normally conceals other building utilities such as heating and cooling ducts, electrical supply lines and lighting fixtures among other things. The water supply lines, in turn are functionally adapted to supply water to sprinkler heads which are actuated by heat sensing means. This is, without question, old art. Various ancillary units support such installations with pumps, valves, sensors and other components to regulate the supply of water during a fire.
Prior art devices however, are limited to discrete components having U.L listed parts such as Pump/motor, U.L. controller being supplied separately and not as a package. Prior art devices do not lend themselves to self installation by homeowners or self/builders in conformity to local building codes because there has been no simple means for assembling discrete components which will perform according to codes. Because of the preponderance of home/building designs, each requiring a fire prevention system of its own, the cost of installing a sprinkler system increases according to the complexity thereof. There has been no inexpensive “plug and play” system which can be selected as a complete unit based upon the code requirements for a particular residence or building. Although the installation of piping and the fitting of sprinklers is a routine matter during construction, the assembly and installation of the components of the pumping system is far from routine and requires special training and experience to match the correct pump/motor combination for a given application. This does not afford any guarantee that these components in combination would perform to U.L standards.
Prior art systems utilize existing water supplies which are plumbed into the residence, these systems are often powered by the domestic power supply. This reliance on public utilities offers scant protection in the event of catastrophic failure of either (or both) the water or power supply.